The present invention relates to techniques for sensing currents in electronic circuits. More particularly, the present invention provides an inductor-based approach to current sensing.
In many electronic circuits and systems it may be desirable to monitor the current in an inductor for a variety of reasons, e.g., sensing overcurrent conditions in a switching amplifier or power supply. This is often accomplished by the introduction of additional circuit elements, e.g., sense resistors, which cause the system to dissipate additional power, may undesirably alter the signal being monitored, and result in additional costs. It is therefore desirable to provide techniques for sensing the current in an inductor which are not characterized by such disadvantages.